Wired but tired: is modern life draining your energy?

Could ‘electrical pollution’ and EMFs have consequences for your health? Samantha Swift reports

Modern technology has altered the landscape of our lives. Life today is easier, faster and more convenient as a result of electricity, computers, mobile phones and the explosion in wireless communication. But a growing number of scientists worldwide are trying to alert us to the fact that the devices to which we are all so attached emit electro magnetic frequencies [EMFs], which could have serious consequences for our health. You cannot see them, taste them or smell them, but man-made EMFs are everywhere. We are all surrounded by electro-pollution.

So what are EMFs? Electromagnetic fields are areas of energy that surround electronic devices. The World Health Organisation [WHO] explains that the electric fields are created by differences in voltage and magnetic fields are created when the electric current flows. Electromagnetic fields affect us because our human bodies have their own biochemical responses (e.g. nervous system, brain function, heart function). That means exposure to EMFs can react with your body in adverse ways. Experts believe that our cells expend more energy to protect themselves from these fields. This drains our energy and leads to fatigue, especially in young children who need to be protected from it.

Every living thing has a biofield [energy field]. The biofield is quantum-level information that pervades the biochemical body and instructs it how to function correctly. If blockages or other distortions exist in this field, the information is unable to properly instruct the biochemical body, and physical illness can result. Electro magnetic frequencies, which are artificial, become entwined with our natural frequencies, interfering with cellular communication creating a biochemical stress response. This is when physical illness results.

Despite this, the question of whether electrical pollution has a quantifiable effect on the human body still hasn’t been fully resolved. The International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of the World Health Organisation, has classified the radiation emitted by handsets as ‘possibly carcinogenic;’ its decision putting mobiles in the same risk category as lead, the pesticide DDT and petrol exhausts and putting governments under pressure to update their advice to the public on the potential dangers of talking on mobiles for extended periods of time. In the UK, a report produced by the Health Protection Agency (HPA) concluded that a precautionary approach was required. Its former head, Sir William Stewart, has stated publicly that children under eight should not use mobile phones. In 2006 he told Radio 4: ‘If there are risks, and we think maybe there are, then the people who are going to be most affected are children, and the younger the children, the greater the danger.‘ He has also urged a review of the roll out of wi-fi in the classroom. The UK’s chief medical officer has advised that children and teenagers under the age of 16 should not use mobiles except for short essential calls or use laptops on their laps.

There is clearly evidence to support the concern that EMFs can affect our health. Whilst the debate goes on, many people are now so sensitive to man-made EMFs that they experience debilitating symptoms including nervous system symptoms such as fatigue, stress, mood swings and sleep disturbances, low energy levels, depression or ‘foggy’ thinking, and burning sensations, rashes and prickly feeling on the skin. It has even been suggested that EMFs can contribute to infertility and it’s estimated that at least three per cent of the UK population are electro-sensitive, which means they will react instantly to proximate electro-pollution. Some scientific groups put it as high as 15 per cent. Although many have no awareness of the physical symptoms at all, experts say that long-term exposure can result in increasing side effects that may ultimately cause serious disease such as diabetes, cancer and alzheimer’s.

So what can you do to reduce the dangers posed by EMFs? Early this year, the scientific journal Reviews on Environmental Health published a report (The Seletun Report) by seven international scientists led by neurologist and world-renowned expert Olle Johansson PhD, which calls for greatly reduced exposure limits for electromagnetic radiation from powerline and telecommunications technologies, including mobile phones and wireless technologies. Although we can’t avoid them completely - EMFs surround us every day and night - what we can do is minimise our exposure to them by making some basic changes wherever possible and investing in EMF protection devices. Simple changes include unplugging electronic equipment and wi-fi routers when not in use and through the night and replacing cordless or wireless devices with wired ones. If you can’t replace wireless devices, then try to use mobiles only for short periods and if possible text rather than call. Children in particular should only use a mobile phone for emergencies. Devices such as the EnergyDOT can also help by harmonising the EMFs, thereby relieving the negative effects.

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